From a photograph by Solomon D. Butcher of four daughters of rancher Joseph M. Chrisman, at their sod house in Custer County, Nebraska. From left to right, Harriet, Elizabeth, Lucie, and Ruth. Photographed in 1886.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

An Old Barn Falls

I told you so.

Fall of 2007

A couple of years ago, I wrote that I was surprised this barn had tobacco hung all the way to the top in it. I hoped they had checked the old barn's stability before climbing to the top tier with heavy tobacco-laden sticks because the barn was in poor repair.

Sometime after that, an angry man from eastern Kentucky wrote an impassioned comment on that post. He said that falling out of the tops of barns was just part of growing tobacco. I, an ignoramus, should mind my own business because I knew nothing about barns, tobacco, or farming. He added a number of obscenities for emphasis.

He may have been right (I don't know a whole lot about tobacco farming), but nevertheless, the barn collapsed sometime recently, probably in one of the wind storms. Or maybe the farmer pushed it over. Anyhow, nobody will be hanging tobacco in it anymore.

IT IS STILL BEST to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasure; and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.(Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1867-1957)